History and Politics of India

I am not only fascinated by politics, but by the politics of change, if there is one unchanging motif that runs through the common history of man, it is that everything changes, except change itself. How we change, and its process tells us more about who we are as nations and individuals and it is that fearful but persistent change that tells us not only who we are, but who we were and perhaps who we might be. I know many have distaste to all things political, because of the common association with corruption and scandal which pervades the political society. It is true that politics unfortunately is inhabited by desperate men and women who abuse the power entrusted to them, and many of them, not all of them are circus elephants.

But does that mean one should despair with and ignore politics?

It does surprise me that when I talk to people who are by their own right apathetic towards politics, they consider it to be some new age phenomenon, or when I speak with devout religious persons who consider that politics as it is today was not apparent in the days of the Moses, Mohammed or Guru Nanak. When people ask me why I am so interested in politics, I recall my first lesson in Government and Politics when I was 16, my lecturer Mr. McSweeny, broke politics down to "who gets what says who". Who gets what says who in society and on this planet should be a concern of every man or woman who has a life to lead and a family to feed.

To ignore politics is to test that old French proverb " if you do not do politics, politics will certainly do you". As Aristotle observed, one of the many penalties of refusing to engage in politics is to allow yourself to be ruled be inferior individuals than yourself.

That is why I always pay close attention to the politics of today, simple labels immersed in complex situations always require the closest attention, lest one be girded in the whirlwind of propaganda, where the myths are legion and the truth of the matter very hard to find. Myths are found in conflicts regional or religious, the global market system, which hitherto stands victorious operates under a pretext of myth or confidence, but of course we must be free to interpret the language we hear and the actions we see, but we must always arm ourselves with how and why although rarely are these two propositions ever satisfied in the hearts of men.